Mom, daughter shot dead by home intruder in New Jersey
WPVI
(WILLINGBORO, N.J.) — Police are searching for the gunman who shot and killed a mother and daughter during a home invasion in New Jersey.
Catherine Nunez, 33, and her mother, Marisol Nunez, 54. were found dead in an upstairs bedroom of their home in Willingboro early Wednesday, the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office said.
It appears the intruder broke a first-floor window to enter the home, prosecutors said.
No arrests have been made, prosecutors said.
Authorities said they believe the crime wasn’t random and don’t think other residents in the neighborhood are at risk.
(NEW YORK) — Details about the murder of two teenage girls in Delphi, Indiana, in 2017 were revealed for the first time Friday during the trial of the man accused of killing them.
Richard Allen is charged in the murders of Abby Williams, 13, and Libby German, 14. The two friends were found dead a day after they went out for a walk on a hiking trail in February 2017.
Allen has pleaded not guilty to four counts of murder.
Police have never released how the eighth graders were killed. During opening statements Friday in the long-awaited trial in Carroll County, Indiana, the prosecutors provided the jurors with details about the murders.
“You’re going to see the crime scene,” prosecutor Nick McLeland said. “It was a gruesome scene. Libby was completely naked. Her throat was cut, blood all over. Abby’s throat was also cut.”
McLeland said the case is about three things: the “bridge guy,” an unspent bullet found at the crime scene and the brutal murders of Libby and Abby, who were found dead near the Monon High Bridge.
According to McLeland, Libby posted a photo of Abby on Snapchat while they were crossing over the Monon High Bridge. After the girls crossed the bridge, they saw a man behind them, so Libby started a recording on her phone at 2:13 p.m. on Feb. 13, 2017, he said.
McLeland said the man pulled out a gun and ordered the girls “down the hill.” The girls complied and then, the video on the cellphone stopped recording.
According to McLeland, Allen testified that he was on the trail that day. Investigators also found a gun in his house, and testing showed a bullet found at the crime scene cycled through that gun.
McLeland said Allen also confessed to committing the crime to his wife and mother voluntarily while in jail.
Defense attorney Andrew Baldwin said in his opening statement that there is reasonable doubt in the case, arguing that the state’s investigation was botched from the beginning.
Baldwin questioned the timeline and cellphone evidence in the state’s case, holding up a phone to the jury and saying, “Forensic data on these phones don’t lie.”
Baldwin said the prosecution claims Abby and Libby were dead by 4 p.m. on Feb. 13, 2017, and their bodies were never moved until they were recovered the next day. He said the prosecution’s timeline puts Allen in a parking lot near the trial at 1:30 p.m. but his cellphone data shows he was gone by 2:15 p.m.
Addressing the unspent round found at the crime scene, Baldwin said law enforcement commonly used that type of bullet, but police never investigated if an officer was missing one. He also said the owner of the property where the girls were found owns a similar weapon but his gun was never tested.
The defense also argued Allen’s mental health was in decline while in prison, which led to him to confess to the crime.
The defense told jurors they believe the girls were killed somewhere else and their bodies were returned to the crime scene — that searchers saw no bodies or girl’s clothing in the creek on the night of Feb. 13, and witnesses near the crime scene also never heard any screams.
Baldwin also said hair found in Abby’s hand was a possible match to a female relative of Libby, and not Allen. The defense revealed the evidence for the first time during proceedings earlier in the week.
Ahead of opening statements, Judge Frances Gull ruled the composite sketches of a person of interest in the case released by the Indiana State Police early in the investigation will not be used during the trial.
Prosecutors had filed a motion seeking to prevent defense attorneys from referencing the sketches, arguing they were for generating leads in the case and were not used to identify Allen as a suspect in the case.
Law enforcement officials work at the crime scene outside the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on September 16, 2024, following Sunday’s attempted assassination on former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was charged on Monday with possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number at his initial court appearance. — Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images
(WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.) — The man arrested for allegedly trying to assassinate former President Donald Trump on a Florida golf course is expected to appear before a judge Monday.
Ryan Wesley Routh was ordered to appear in a West Palm Beach federal court for a pre-detention hearing. Routh, 58, has already been charged with possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number for the Sept. 15 incident that took place at Trump International Golf Club.
Trump was playing golf on the course when a Secret Service agent spotted a gun barrel poking out from the tree line near the sixth green, according to investigators.
The agent then fired in the direction of the rifle and saw Routh fleeing the area and entering his Nissan vehicle, according to the criminal complaint.
Routh was allegedly 300 to 500 yards away from the former president and did not fire any shot, according to investigators. Trump was not in Routh’s line of sight, according to the Secret Service.
Witnesses reported the license plate number to authorities, and the suspect was stopped and detained.
In the area of the tree line where the suspect was seen, agents found a digital camera, two bags, including a backpack, and a loaded SKS-style 7.62×39 caliber rifle with a scope, according to the complaint. The serial number on the rifle “was obliterated and unreadable to the naked eye,” the complaint states.
Routh did not enter a plea for his initial charges and his arraignment is scheduled for Sept. 30.
The investigation is ongoing and the FBI has been going through Routh’s social media and criminal history and speaking with family members to get more clues.
Routh suggested Iran should feel “free to assassinate Trump” and himself in a self-published book from February 2023.
In the book, which ABC News has unearthed following Sunday’s incident, Routh directed an apology toward Iran, apparently for his previous support for Trump, who withdrew the U.S. in 2018 from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal with Iran.
The suspect was also a booster of a number of causes, including the war in Ukraine, an ABC News analysis of his apparent social media profiles shows.
As authorities try to unravel the motive and details of the case, sources said investigators were looking at whether Routh was frustrated with Trump’s position on Ukraine.
Wright Brothers National Memorial from the air, Kitty Hawk, Kill Devils, NC, Feb. 6, 2022. — Joe Sohm/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
(KILL DEVIL HILLS, N.C.) — Multiple people were killed after a single-engine plane crashed into the woods near the Wright Brothers National Memorial’s First Flight Airport in North Carolina.
The crash occurred on Saturday at approximately 5 p.m. ET, according to a press release from the National Park Service (NPS).
The number of people killed and their identities have not been released.
Eyewitnesses reported that the airplane crashed while attempting to land at the airport, according to the NPS.
The plane caught fire as a result of the crash and was extinguished by the Kill Devil Hills Fire Department and other local fire departments, according to the NPS.
An investigation into the crash is being conducted by the National Transportation Safety Board, and the Federal Aviation Administration has been notified.
Wright Brothers National Memorial is closed Sunday as the investigation continues, according to the NPS.
ABC News’ Victoria Arancio contributed to this report.
